Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Bhikkhu Anālayo
Abstract:
Canadian Journal of
Introduction Buddhist Studies,
Number 7, 2011
A recurrent description in the early Buddhist
discourses depicts the attainment of stream-entry
taking place during the delivery of a 'gradual talk' by
the Buddha. Such a gradual talk begins by taking up
the importance of morality and generosity and the
need to renounce sensuality. When in the course of ©2011
hearing this instruction the listener's mind reaches a by Nalanda College
state free from the hindrances, the Buddha then of Buddhist Studies
expounds the four noble truths. Upon receiving this
teaching on the four noble truths, the "eye of the
Dharma" arises in the listener's mind, presumably
12 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011
The 'stream' that has been entered at this point is the noble
eightfold path,4 and the stream-enterer is one who is 'endowed with view',5
Right View and the Scheme of the Four Truths 13
in other words, he or she has seen the four noble truths and thus attained
what early Buddhism considers to fulfil right view.
Translation (1)11
[Discourse to Ko hita]12
23. "[If] a learned noble disciple thus understands this old age and
death as they really are ... (up to) ... and understands the path to the
cessation of old age and death as it really is; then in this way a noble
disciple in our teaching and discipline is endowed with right view, has
accomplished straight view, has accomplished unshakeable confidence in
the Buddha, has come to and arrived at the right teaching, has attained this
right Dharma and awoken to this right Dharma."
24. - 60. (In the same way for) "birth ... becoming ... clinging ...
craving ... feeling ... contact ... the six sense-spheres ... name-and-form ...
consciousness ... formations.
Study (1)
A comparison of the above translated Sa!yukta-āgama discourse
(SĀ 344) with its parallels brings to light a variation in the sequence of the
approaches to right view. Such variations are a recurrent feature of orally
transmitted material and often have relatively little bearing on the actual
teaching given in the respective versions.23 In the present case, whereas the
Majjhima-nikāya version (MN 9) proceeds from nutriment directly to the
20 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011
four noble truths, the parallel versions first turn to the influxes. These are
taken up at the very end of the Majjhima-nikāya version, preceded by also
covering the theme of ignorance, see below table 1.
wholesome/unwholesome24 wholesome/unwholesome
nutriments nutriments
influxes four noble truths
four noble truths old age (up to) formations
old age (up to) formations ignorance
influxes
working their way through nutriment and the links of dependent arising
(pa3icca samuppāda) that trace the arising of dukkha to ignorance, i.e.:
With the four noble truths, this basic pattern then becomes:
Now the basic scheme of four truths that underlies the exposition
in the Sammādi33hi-sutta and its parallels mirrors a diagnostic scheme
apparently employed in Indian medicine. The correspondence that results
from this parallelism is summarized in table 3.
disease: dukkha
pathogen: craving (arising of dukkha)
health: Nirvā)a (cessation of dukkha)
cure: eightfold path
A short discourse that takes this correlation as its main theme can
be found in the same Sa!yukta-āgama preserved in Chinese translation (T
99) that also contains the above translated parallel to the Sammādi33hi-
sutta. This discourse, however, does not have a parallel in the Pāli canon.
Nevertheless, versions of this discourse can be found in another Sa!yukta-
āgama (T 100) that has been partially preserved in Chinese translation,31 in
another discourse preserved as an individual translation in Chinese,32 in a
Right View and the Scheme of the Four Truths 23
Translation (2)
[Discourse on the Physician]37
"That is, the Tathāgata understands that this is knowing the noble
truth of dukkha as it really is, this is knowing the noble truth of the arising
of dukkha as it really is, this is knowing the noble truth of the cessation of
dukkha as it really is, this is knowing the noble truth of the way to the
cessation of dukkha as it really is.
When the Buddha had spoken this discourse, the monks, who had
heard what the Buddha said, were delighted and received it respectfully.
Right View and the Scheme of the Four Truths 25
Study (2)
The above translated discourse from the Sa!yukta-āgama (T 99)
shows considerable similarities to the individual translation and the sūtra
quotation in Śamathadeva's compendium. However, the version preserved
in the other Sa!yukta-āgama (T 100), together with the Uighur fragments,
differ rather substantially. In these versions we find:
The similarity between the Buddhist scheme of the four truths and
medical science in India has been noted by a range of Buddhist scholars.43
Already towards the end of the 19th century, Oldenberg pointed out that it
is difficult to ascertain if the Buddhists indeed borrowed this scheme.44 A
few decades later, Har Dayal and Filliozat highlighted the fact that there is
no proof that ancient Indian medicine had a scheme corresponding to the
four truths previous to the time of early Buddhism,45 an argument
presented in a more detailed manner by Wezler (1984: 312-324).
ABBREVIATIONS
AN A:guttara-nikāya
Be Burmese edition
Ce Ceylonese edition
CPD Critical Pāli Dictionary, Trenckner
D Derge edition
Dhp Dhammapada
Dhp-a Dhammapada-a33hakathā
Ee PTS edition
MĀ Madhyama-āgama (T 26)
MN Majjhima-nikāya
Ps Papañcasūdanī
Q Qian-long (Peking) edition
SĀ Sa!yukta-āgama (T 99)
SĀ2 'other' Sa!yukta-āgama (T 100)
Se Siamese edition
SN Sa!yutta-nikāya
Sn Sutta-nipāta
T Taishōō(CBETA)
Vin Vinaya
Vism Visuddhimagga
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30 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011
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34 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011
NOTES
* I am indebted to Rod Bucknell, Shi Kongmu, Giuiliana Martini and
Lambert Schmithausen for comments and suggestions.
Right View and the Scheme of the Four Truths 35
1
Ñā)ananda 2003: 48 explains that "what is called the 'Dhamma-eye' is
the ability to see the Nibbānic solution in the very vortex of the sa!sāric
problem".
2
The need to become in some way part of a discourse for an attainment to
be on record can be seen in, e.g., SN 46.30 at SN V 89,13, which reports a
succinct teaching given by the Buddha to Udāyin on the impermanent
nature of the five aggregates. Following this instruction Udāyin retires into
seclusion to practice and comes to have insight into the four noble truths
as they really are, i.e., he attains stream-entry or a higher level of
attainment below full realization, as the remainder of the discourse makes
clear. In this case, his realization has become part of a discourse because
he approaches the Buddha and reports what has happened.
3
Sn 231 and a parallel to this stanza in the Mahāvastu, Senart 1882:
291,23, indicate that the eradication of these three fetters takes place at the
moment of stream-entry itself. That the experience of stream-entry is
clearly recognizable as an event that takes place at a particular time can
also be deduced from AN 3.12 at AN I 107,6, which lists insight into the
four noble truths as they really are (a reference to the attainment of at least
stream-entry) alongside one's going forth and one's attainment of the
destruction of the influxes (a reference to full awakening) as three events
worth being remembered.
4
SN 55.5 at SN V 347,25 and its parallel SĀ 843 at T II 215b17.
5
Cf., e.g., MN 115 at MN III 64,17, which stipulates various
impossibilities for a stream-enterer, referred to with the expression of
being "a person endowed with view", di33hisampanno puggalo. The
formulations employed in the Chinese parallels in a way draw out the
implications of this expression, as MĀ 181 at T I 724a6 speaks of a
"person with a vision of the truth", 見諦人, and T 776 at T XVII 713b26
of a "person with right view", 正見人.
6
MN 9 at MN I 46,15 to 55,25.
7
MĀ 29 at T I 461b22 to 464b15 and SĀ 344 at T II 94b2 to 95b9.
8
On the school affiliations of these two collections cf., e.g., Lü 1963: 242,
Waldschmidt 1980: 136, Enomoto 1984, Mayeda 1985: 98f, Enomoto
1986: 21 and 23, Minh Chau 1991: 27, Choong 2000: 6 note 18, Hiraoka
2000, Harrison 2002: 1, Oberlies 2003: 48 and 64, Bucknell 2006: 685 and
Glass 2010.
9
S 474 folio 16V9 to 18V5 in Tripā hī 1962: 50−54; a new edition,
additional fragments and a juxtaposition with the two Chinese parallels
36 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011
18
Instead of taking up separation from what is liked and association with
what is disliked, the Ce and the Ee edition at MN I 48,32 only list sorrow,
lamentation, etc., as manifestations of dukkha, to which the Be and Se
editions add separation from what is liked and association with what is
disliked.
19
MĀ 29 at T I 462b1 differs from the other versions in as much as it
traces the arising of dukkha to old age and death.
20
Adopting the variant 法, in conformity with earlier formulations. The
text here has 道 instead, which would result in the alternative of having
arrived at the right "path".
21
SĀ 344 at T II 95a18: 如前分別經 . The corresponding section in
Sanskrit fragment S 474 folio 17R6 has, according to Tripā hī 1962: 53,
preserved a reference to [d](i)sūtre, which Tripā hī 1962: 195 then
restores to (pūrvavad yathā ā)d(i)sūtre, translated as "wie vorher im
Ādisūtra" (this being the restored title of another discourse in Tripā hī
1962: 157, parallel to the Vibha:ga-sutta, SN 12.2). However, Chung
2011: 245 reads the same fragment 17v6 as just [g]. sūtre. In fact the title
of the discourse referred to in SĀ 344 is "analysis" (in Āgama literature,
分別 regularly renders vibha:ga, "analysis"; cf. also Hirakawa 1997: 183),
which would fit the reading in Chung 2011: 245. 前, which can indeed
render ādi, does not belong to the title, but is part of the recurrent phrase
如前 used in the Sa!yukta-āgama to refer to an exposition given earlier in
the same collection. Thus the remark in SĀ 344 seems to intend the ex-
position of the nature of old age and death provided in SĀ 298. Although
the Taishō edition does not give a title for this discourse, one of two
parallels to SĀ 298 is the "Discourse on Analysis", the Vibha:ga-sutta,
SN 12.2, which at SN II 2,27 gives an exposition of old age and death
similar to what is found in SĀ 298 at T II 85b13 to b19; cf. also the corre-
sponding Sanskrit fragment in Tripā hī 1962: 163. The passage to be
supplemented at the present juncture would thus be an explanation of the
nature of old age as manifesting in whiteness of hair, etc., and of the
nature of death as becoming evident in the passing away of various living
beings, etc.
22
While MĀ 29 at T I 464b12 and fragment S 474 18V4 in Tripā hī 1962:
54 or 18r4 in Chung 2011: 246 agree with SĀ 344 on reporting a rebuffing
of an attempt to push the inquiry beyond ignorance, MN 9 at MN I 55,3 in
a way does go beyond ignorance by turning to the influxes, presenting
38 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011
34
D 4094 nyu 1b1 to 2b6 or Q 5595 thu 32b6 to 33b6; on Śamathadeva's
work, an outstanding source for early Buddhist discourse material in
Tibetan translation, cf. Mejor 1991: 63−64 and Skilling 2005: 699; for
locating relevant parallels cf. the convenient survey in Honjō 1984. The
present sūtra quotation takes its occasion from a reference to a doctor
endowed with four qualities in the Abhidharmakośabhā9ya, Pradhan 1967:
328,9; cf. also Pāsādika 1989: 100 (§393).
35
Wogihara 1971: 514,27 to 515,2, introduced as the Vyādhyādisūtra, the
"Discourse on Disease, etc."; a reference to the four skills of a physician,
described in this discourse, can be found in the Yogācārabhūmi, T 1579 at
T XXX 356a8, noted in Demiéville 1974: 230; for a Sanskrit counterpart
cf. Wezler 1984: 311.
36
Samtani 1971: 159,6 to 160,7.
37
The translated discourse is SĀ 389 at T II 105a24 to b20; for the title I
have decided on a short form based on the titles given in the Chinese
translations of the Abhidharmakośabhā9ya, where T 1558 at T XXIX
114a14 (trsl. 玄奘) speaks of the "Discourse on the Good Physician", 良醫
經, while T 1559 at T XXIX 266b17 (trsl. Paramārtha) speaks of the
"Discourse on the Simile of the Physician", 醫譬經. Extracts from SĀ 389
have been translated into French by Demiéville 1974: 228.
38
In relation to SĀ 389 at T II 105a26: 名曰大醫王者, 所應王之具,
Wezler 1984: 320 suggests to emend 者 to 之, thereby bringing the
passage in line with the reading rājārhaś ca bhavati in the Abhi-
dharmakośavyākhya, Wogihara 1971: 514,28, an expression found
similarly in the commentary on the Arthaviniścaya-sūtra, Samtani 1971:
160,1; cf. also D 4094 nyu 1b2 or Q 5595 thu 32b7: rgyal po la 'os shing.
This emendation would result in the above translated section reading
"reckoned a great physician, worthy of a king, of being the possession of a
king", etc. I have not followed Wezler's reasonable suggestion as later on
SĀ 389 at T II 105b10 also qualifies the Buddha as being a "great royal
physician", 大醫王. Since this appears to intend a comparison with the
description of the worldly physician given at the present juncture of the
discourse, it seems that the same sense of a "great royal physician" applies
also to the present passage. This reading may well be the result of an error,
in fact a qualification of the Buddha as a "royal" physician is not found in
the parallel versions (although T 219 at T IV 802a23 introduces the simile
of the physician with: 得名醫王), which instead refer to him as physician
who is "unsurpassed", anuttaro / 無上 / bla na med pa; cf. Wogihara
40 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011
1971: 514,33, SĀ2 254 at T II 462c14 and D 4094 nyu 2b2 or Q 5595 thu
33b1. Nevertheless, for the sake of preserving the continuity of the ex-
position in SĀ 389, it seems to me preferable to render the present section
of the text following Demiéville 1974: 228, who translates: "un grand roi
de médecins". The notion of someone being a royal physician, like, e.g.,
the famous Jīvaka, would presumably have been an easily understood
reference in the ancient Indian setting. A relation between the simile of the
skilled physician and kingship comes up also in T 219 at T IV 802b18,
which in its concluding section refers to the contrast between a wheel-
turning king and the Buddha. This suggests that the contrast between the
royal power of a wheel-turning king and the Buddha's superior dominion
by turning the wheel of Dharma is similar to the present contrast between
a royal physician and the Buddha's superior 'medical' skill by teaching the
Dharma; on the cakravartin motif cf. also Anālayo 2011b.
39
The above detailed exposition of the four principles is absent from SĀ2
254, which after enumerating these four principles in short at T II 462c13
directly proceeds to the comparison with the Tathāgata. While the sūtra
quotations in the Abhidharmakośavyākhya and in the commentary on the
Arthaviniścaya-sūtra, Wogihara 1971: 514,31 and Samtani 1971: 160,3,
also do not go into the details regarding what the four qualities of a skilled
doctor imply, T 219 at T IV 802a26 and the sūtra quotation in
Śamathadeva's compendium, D 4094 nyu 1b5 or Q 5595 thu 33a2, do have
such a detailed exposition.
40
In a version of the simile of the skilled physician in the *Mahāprajñā-
pāramitā-(upadeśa-)śāstra (大智度論), T 1509 at T XXV 235c12,
translated by Lamotte 1970: 1515, the physician who 'only' knows the four
skills, 但知病, 知病因, 知差病, 知差病藥, illustrates the śrāvaka,
whereas a bodhisattva is like a physician who additionally knows all types
of diseases and medicines.
41
SĀ2 254 at T II 462c17 compares the predicament of the first truth to a
poisoned arrow, a simile also found in the Uighur version, Kudara 1995:
48; cf. also Samtani 1971: 160,1.
42
SĀ2 254 at T II 462c26 and the Uighur version, Kudara 1995: 48−52,
continue with the venerable VaRgīsa proclaiming a set of stanzas in praise
of the Buddha, paralleling SĀ 1220 at T II 332c16.
43
Cf., e.g., Kern 1896: 46, de La Vallée Poussin 1903, Conze 1951/1960:
17, Frauwallner 1953: 184, Pande 1957: 398, Dutt 1960/1971: 140,
Schlingloff 1962: 70, Bareau 1964: 33, Gunaratna 1968/2008: 9, de Silva
1973/1992: 166, Rewata 1997: 55f, Gombrich 2009: 161.
Right View and the Scheme of the Four Truths 41
44
Oldenberg 1881/1961: 374 note 2, after introducing the parallelism
between the four truths and the four aspects of medicine, comments: "ob in
Bezug auf die vierfache Gliederung der Buddhismus der entlehnende Teil
ist, wird nicht festgestellt werden können; daß die Formulierung der vier
Sätze sein Eigentum ist, scheint unzweifelhaft".
45
Har Dayal 1932/1970: 159 points out that "it has been suggested that the
Buddhists borrowed the formula from the medical treatises. But medical
science was not highly developed in India in the sixth and fifth centuries
B.C. It is more likely that the writers on medicine were indebted to
Buddhist literature for the four terms". Filliozat 1934: 301 comments that
"sans doute il était parfaitement logique de penser que les vérités
applicables à la douleur en général pouvaient s'appliquer à la douleur
physique en particulier, mais il était pour le moins hardi d'en inférer que le
Bouddhisme les avait empruntées à la médecine. Il eût fallu prouver que
cette médicine les possédait avant le Bouddhisme".
46
Cf., e.g., Rhys Davids 1907: 118 s.v. bhisakka (1) and 143 s.v.
sallakatto, as well as the survey in Collins 1998: 229f.
47
AN 5.194 at AN III 238,9 speaks of dispelling one's
sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā; for the same terms in the context
of the first truth description cf., e.g., the Sammādi33hi-sutta, MN 9 at MN I
48,32.
48
Wezler 1984: 320 suggests that because of the absence of a Pāli
discourse counterpart to SĀ 389 or SĀ2 254 there is "a high degree of
probability that it forms but a later addition; for it is quite impossible to
discover a motive for a transmitter dropping it". I would venture to
disagree with this conclusion, since the reason for the absence of a version
of this discourse in the Pāli canon need not be intentionally dropping only.
The same could just be due to the vicissitudes of oral transmission. There
are a fair number of discourses in the Chinese Āgamas that do not show
any evident sign of lateness, even though they have no Pāli parallel. The
same holds evidently also the other way round, in that Pāli discourses
without a parallel in the Chinese Āgamas need not be late. Comparative
studies in Āgama literature clearly show that none of the extant collection
can be considered as complete, in fact I would interpret the Purā)a episode
at Vin II 290,5 to imply that even the early reciters did not consider the
Pāli canon as a complete record of the Buddha's saying. In sum, the lack of
a Pāli parallel to a discourse in a Chinese Āgama collection is in itself not
sufficient evidence for coming to a conclusion about the lateness of this
discourse.
42 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011
49
T 1648 at T XXXII 452c17 explains that "it is just as a clever physician
first sees the source of the disease, then inquires about the conditions of
the disease and for the sake of extinguishing the disease prescribes the
medicine appropriate to the disease. In this way, the disease can be
understood to be like dukkha. In this way, the causes of the disease can be
understood to be like the arising [of dukkha]. In this way, the eradication
of the disease can be understood to be like the cessation [of dukkha]. In
this way, the medicine can be understood to be like the path". Similarly,
according to Vism 512,7: "the truth of dukkha is like a disease, the truth of
the arising [of dukkha] is like the cause of the disease, the truth of the
cessation [of dukkha] is like the cure of the disease and the truth of the
path like the medicine". On the relationship between these two works cf.
Anālayo 2009b (with further references).
50
This has already been pointed out by de La Vallée Poussin 1903: 580 (in
relation to the sūtra quotation in the Abhidharmakośavyākhya); cf. also
Demiéville 1974: 230 and Wezler 1984: 320.
51
Wezler 1984: 323 then continues that "it was not until the quadruple
division of the science of medicine originating in medical circles became
known to Buddhist authors that the Four Noble Truths as such were by
way of comparison paralleled" to this scheme, however, "there is not the
slightest evidence for the assumption that this fourfold division of the
science of medicine ... inspired the Buddha to his Four Noble Truths".
Zysk 1991: 38 then goes further, as he holds that "the insignificance of the
fourfold division in the medical tradition and its conceptual variation from
the Four Noble Truths [i.e. the difference in sequence between the third
and the fourth item] render any medical analogy in the Buddha's original
teaching untenable".
52
An example where a Buddhist texts adopts a sequence that differs from
the standard pattern employed for the four truths can be found in a passage
in MĀ 181 at T I 724a23 (absent from its parallel MN 115), which
describes the situation of someone afflicted by severe pain who
approaches non-Buddhist recluses and Brahmins in the hope of getting
relief as: "searching for dukkha, the arising of dukkha, the path [to
liberation from] dukkha, and the cessation of dukkha", 求苦, 習苦, 趣苦,
苦盡者. The pattern adopted here for physical affliction to be cured by
non-Buddhist teachers corresponds to the depiction of the skills of the
physician in SĀ 389. For a translation and comparative study of MĀ 181
cf. Anālayo 2009a.
Right View and the Scheme of the Four Truths 43
53
SN 56.29 at SN V 436,11 (on the formulation employed in the discourse
cf. Weller 1940/1987 and Norman 1982/1984) and SĀ 382 at T II 104b17;
for a brief survey of the four tasks required by the four truths as taking the
form of twelve insights in SN 56.11 cf. Moffitt 2008: 281−283; cf. also
Vism 507,21: paramatthato hi dukkhanirodha! ariyasaccan ti nibbāna!
vuccati, which Harvey 2009: 209 takes up in the context of an argument
for rendering sacca as "reality" rather than as "truth".
54
Cf. also Demiéville 1974: 230, who in relation to the simile of the
skilled physician comments that it suggests that the Buddha "concevait sa
doctrine comme une thérapeutique".
55
Another illustration of the four truths scheme, just to provide an
additional example, would be the simile of the elephant's footprint, which
due to its size encompasses the footprints of any other animal. This
imagery illustrates the comprehensive function of the four truths in
relation to wholesome or skilful states, cf. MN 28 at MN I 184,26 and MĀ
30 at T I 464b23. According to Ñā)aponika 1966/1981: 2, the simile
conveys that "the Four Noble Truths comprise ... all that is beneficial; i.e.,
all that is truly worth knowing and following after". Cousins 1996: 146
adds that "when ... Sāriputta tells (M I 184) us that all skilful dhammas are
included in the four noble truths, we should ... interpret skilful dhammas
here as referring to meditational states". Franke 1906: 368 notes a
counterpart to the simile of the elephant's footprint found in the Mahā-
bhārata, where it illustrates the importance of non-violence, ahi!sā; cf.
also Neumann 1896/1995: 1141 note 451. The simile of the elephant's
footprint could be considered in conjunction with the simile of the handful
of si!sapā leaves compared to the leaves in the grove. This simile
compares the Buddha's disclosure of the four truths with what he had not
disclosed, cf. SN 56.31 at SN V 437,19 and its parallel SĀ 404 at T II
108a29, thereby again highlighting the centrality of the four truths. These
and other similes related to the four truths appear to be drawn directly
from the everyday experience of the ancient Indian audience, making it
probable that, from the perspective of the early discourses, some sort of
fourfold medical diagnostic should be understood to have already been in
existence.
56
Dhp 190c+d (i.e. the last two lines), Dhp 191 and Dhp 192. Dhp-a III
246,21 explains the reference to seeing with wisdom to imply attainment
of the path and then explains that such direct vision of the four noble
truths is a safe and supreme refuge. Indic language parallels to these
stanzas can be found in the Udāna(-varga) stanzas 27.33c+d and
44 Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 7, 2011